The production of security must be submitted to competition
In 1849, when Molinari published Les soirees de la rue Saint-Lazare, the sovereignty of the people was constantly invoked - in particular, the new Constitution, adopted on 4 November 1848, stated that “sovereignty lies in the universality of the French citizens”.
Governments based on such a principle, he thought, were to be preferred to monarchies of divine right, but the alleged democratic republics are not the expression of the sovereignty of the people. In a representative democracy, the right of the minority can be neglected.There is no durable security in this system... because the persons and the properties of all are at the mercy of a majority, be it blind or enlightened, moral or immoral. The right of the greatest number to tyrannize the will of the fewer could also... generate a civil war. (Molinari 1849a: 326-7)
This is the reason why the idea that competition satisfies the needs of the consumer at the lowest cost should be applied to the production of security.
Molinari’s position perplexed his friends (Coqulin 1849; Societe d’economie politique (SEP) 1849 [1889]). In order for the exchanges in markets to be fair, fraud and violence should be excluded. A superior authority should regulate markets and, if necessary, intervene in conflicts between participants and condemn them. Competitive conditions cannot exist without a state that has the monopoly on legitimate use of force - a natural, unavoidable monopoly. What puts a limit on the power of the government are the constitutional guarantees and the regular intervention of the citizens in public affairs. Competition is within the representative institutions of the state: political parties compete with each other and offer their services to the public, which chooses the one it prefers any time it votes (Dunoyer, in SEP 1849 [1889]: 83). While Molinari did not trust representative democracy, most of the French liberals saw it as the only principle allowing the citizens to control those who govern.